


Muffled Sounds

by suckerfordeansfreckles



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Office, Angst, Best Friends, Castiel & Meg Masters Friendship, Dean is hurting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Jealous Dean Winchester, Love Confessions, M/M, Pathetic Dean Winchester, Pining, dean drinks a little too much, hints at Meg/Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 23:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17538719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suckerfordeansfreckles/pseuds/suckerfordeansfreckles
Summary: Sometimes, when Dean has had a really bad day, he’s allowed to just drive over to Cas’ place and knock. If Cas is home, they’ll spend as much time as possible rolled up on Cas’ couch together, not necessarily talking, just being close and breathing and calming down.Today is a bad day, but when Dean drives over and there’s a car in Cas’ parking spot, his mood turns even gloomier.But it really all goes to shit when he's standing in front of Cas' door and hears laughter - Cas', and... Meg's.





	Muffled Sounds

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is actually just a really dumb short thing I couldn't get out of my head.
> 
> Dean is pathetic and hurting - up until he finds out that... there really was no need for it. :') Happy ending, obviously.

Dean and Cas have been best friends for years, have been working together even longer.

 

And sometimes, when Dean has had a really bad day, he’s allowed to just drive over to Cas’ place and knock. If Cas is home, they’ll just spend as much time as possible rolled up on Cas’ couch together, not necessarily talking, just being close and breathing and calming down. 

 

Today is a bad day, but when Dean drives over and there’s a car in Cas’ parking spot — because, what? Dean’s car is the only one ever standing there. Cas drives his bike everywhere, the dork — it definitely doesn’t help his mood. Neither does having to go looking for a free spot down the road. Or later, when he has to walk all the way back to Cas’ apartment building. Or later, when the elevator doesn’t work once again, and he has to climb up 6 flights of stairs. Or later, when he raises his hand to knock, and he hears laughter. 

 

Cas’, obviously; his deep chuckle is something Dean will  _ always _ recognize. But there’s also that sharper, higher laugh. An almost mean one — one that Dean is, unfortunately, also very well accustomed to. 

 

Meg. Meg, from sales. Meg, who’s been very obviously propositioning Cas for weeks. Meg, who stands plastered to Cas, who twirls her hair and flutters her eyelashes whenever she’s around him — and who makes mean jabs at Dean whenever he gets a little too far into Cas’ personal space.

 

He doesn’t mean to keep listing in on them like a creep, but something in his chest dropped as soon as he realized, bound him to the very place he’s still standing in. There are muffled sounds, and then a thud. Meg, saying something, deep and sultry — and Dean is pretty sure that what he’s feeling somewhere deep in his chest is his heart breaking into pieces. 

 

Dean’s been trying to ignore it for ages, these feelings churning and swirling in his chest whenever he spends time with Cas — but now, well. You can’t very well deny your feelings for your best friend, when you catch him with a girl, and you feel like you’re drowning.

 

He stays for a while longer, frozen in the hallway of Cas’ apartment complex, but then the voices seem to move closer and Dean’s brain finally comes back online.

 

He rushes out of the hall, stumbles down the stairs and barely avoids breaking his neck, until he’s all the way behind the row of parked cars. And then he notices what he should have noticed earlier: the car in Cas’ parking spot is so obviously Meg’s dumb convertible, he’s not sure how he missed it.

 

His eyes sting and he knows he’s being ridiculous, knows he has no right to feel even slightly as jealous as he does — so he stumbles back to his car and drives home, foot maybe a little too heavy on the gas pedal.

 

The thing is, up until this point, Cas was never with anyone. He hasn’t shown interest in anyone, either, so Dean could keep the thoughts and dreams as quiet as possible in the back of his mind and just tell himself; Cas doesn’t do relationships. He’s just not interested. It isn’t Dean’s fault that Cas never looks at him like… like Dean knows he is looking at Cas most of the time.

 

He takes the fastest lane home, only makes a quick stop at the liquor store in his street to get a bottle of their cheapest tequila. 

 

As soon as the engine of his car dies down, he rushes inside, throws the door closed behind himself and lets himself really feel. He slumps back against the door, eyes closed and hand clutched around the neck of the bottle.

 

He can’t make himself do more than that, that night. He drinks until the world goes dizzy for other reasons than his burning eyes, and once he feels sick enough to sleep, he does.

 

When his alarm goes off the next morning, he grabs for his phone and calls in sick, rolls around, and goes back to sleep.

 

He knows he’s pathetic, losing his mind over his best friend sleeping with someone else - but it’s really been a bad week. He didn’t need to find out that Cas doesn’t want him the way he wants Cas, on top of everything. And not like that.

 

Cas calls him three times, but doesn’t leave a message when Dean doesn’t pick up, just shoves his phone deeper under his pillow and ignores its headache-inducing ringing. He doesn’t text back to explain things, either.

  
~~oOo~~  
  


When Dean manages to drag his pathetic, hungover ass out of bed, it’s already late evening. He goes for a shower, grabs some food, changes his sheets, and goes back to sleep.

 

The next day at work, he avoids walking past Cas’ office on the other end of his floor as much as possible. 

 

It works, up until the point where he walks past the break room and catches Cas and Meg, pressed up against each other on a bench, sipping coffee and talking. Dean feels sick all over again, and rushes back to his office.

 

He doesn’t leave it all day, not until his stomach starts to growl bad enough that Dean can’t focus on anything else.

 

He grabs his lunch box and slips out and back to the break room, that is, thankfully, heavenly empty. He gets some coffee before sinking down on a bench at the back of the room, taking his first sip and sighing into the steam. 

 

But he barely gets one bite of his sandwich down when someone enters the room, plops down on a chair across from him. He looks up, sandwich drooping in his hands when his eyes fall on — of course, who else — Meg.

 

He grunts a Hello at her and turns back to his sandwich, tries not to project his feelings onto her. Tries not to get mad at the big, disgusting grin on her face. He fails, hard.

 

“Deano, what’s going on with you, lately?” she laughs. “All broody and sad. You might need to get laid as badly as Clarence does, huh?”

 

And that’s it, that’s enough. Dean slams his mug down on the table, lips pressed into a tight line, and finally explodes. “What, you’re telling me you two haven’t worked that out already?” 

 

“Oooh, pretty boy’s jealous, isn’t he?” Meg drawls, and this is it, Dean gets up, ready to leave. “Cas and I did —”

 

“Meg, I don’t wanna fucking hear about you and Cas, don’t you get it? I can’t - I can’t listen to this,” he breathes, eyes closed. 

 

He turns, but only manages to get a handful of steps between them before a hand closes around his wrist.

 

“Meg,” he grits, turning back around, ready to really give her a piece of his mind. But then he finds her looking… looking serious, a little worried.

 

“Wait,” she says, quiet and careful. In the end, that’s what really tips Dean over. He can handle a snarking, bitchy Meg, but this — this is new. He has no idea how to deal with this. So he stops dead in his tracks. And stares back. 

 

“You know there’s no reason to be jealous, right?” she asks, looking at him with something like concern in her eyes.

 

And — “What.”

 

Meg watches him, seems to wait for something, but when nothing comes, she sighs heavily, and rolls her eyes as hard as humanly possible and — yes! This is the Meg Dean knows how to handle. “I can’t watch this any longer.”

 

Her hand drops from his wrist, but then comes back up in a sharp, stabbing finger against his chest.

 

“He’s in love with you, dumbass,” she snarks, eyes hard. “He’s in love with you, too. So you should really finally go and tell him how you feel. Before you boys break your own hearts even more.”

 

“What,” Dean repeats, dumb-struck. 

 

“Yes. Cas feels the same way. If anyone knows, it’s me — gotta listen to our boy pining and whining every single day,” she says, and her voice turns lighter again, a twinkle in her eyes as she watches Dean.

 

“Meg, are you — is this a joke?” Dean stutters, because he can’t let himself feel this — squishes everything down as much as possible until he knows, for sure. 

 

“I know I can be cruel, but that’s too much — even for me. Cas is my best friend, and he deserves good things. Deserves you.”

 

She moves a step back and just watches again, as Dean finally picks up his jaw and a flush spreads over his cheeks almost as fast as a wide, dazed smile does. “I swear to god,” he whispers as he walks towards the door, eyes still fixed on her. “I swear, Meg, if you’re joking, I will actually kill you.”

 

And then he leaves his lunch box and his coffee and his gloomy mood and rushes to Cas’ office, finally.

 

He finds Cas behind his desk, hunched over his computer, typing away with an angry frown. 

 

He looks up as soon as he realizes that someone entered his room, and when his eyes fall on Dean, it seems kind of like a lot of tension falls from his shoulders.

 

“Dean,” he breathes, a careful smile stretching over his lips. “You didn’t answer my calls yesterday, is everything alright? Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, Cas. I’m very alright,” Dean says as he steps closer towards Cas, rounds his desk until he’s right in front of him. He can’t stop, feels like a mad man on a mission. “Very, very alright, and very in love with you.”

 

“Y— what,” Cas chokes, face coloring an endearing shade of pink. “Is this —”

 

“I’m in love with you, Cas. Have been for way too long,” Dean presses, and then he starts feeling like maybe he just made the biggest mistake of his life. Cas is looking up at him with wide eyes and a red face, and he doesn’t say anything. Not a word. 

 

“Okay,” Dean mumbles, taking a step back out of Cas’ personal space again. “Okay, maybe — okay, I’m sorry. This was a mistake,” he stutters, but then Cas is up and out of his chair, and his arms wrap around Dean’s shoulders as Cas collapses against his chest.

 

He can’t help it, his arms wrap around Cas on instinct, hands spreading over Cas’ broad shoulders and pulling him even closer.

 

“Please tell me this isn’t a joke,” Cas murmurs against Dean’s chest, close enough that Dean can barely make it out. “Please tell me Meg didn’t put you up to this.”

 

“No. No, Meg made me realize — made me, um, feel like I could tell you.”

 

And then Cas raises his head and his eyes are wet, but that’s the last thing Dean sees before Cas closes the last few inches between them and presses his lips to Dean’s.

 

The kiss is soft, and warm, and gentle, and everything Dean could have ever wanted. 

 

And it doesn’t stop for ages, not even when Meg comes in to cheer and whistle at them. 

 

When it eventually does, it’s only because their wide smiles keep interrupting it.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://suckerfordeansfreckles.tumblr.com/) or on [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/suckerfordeansfreckles) ! 
> 
> I would love to talk to you :) <3


End file.
